“Becoming” is a natural phenomenon that is experienced throughout one’s life, and yet it does not appear to involve a simple process. This study was about how preservice teachers become teachers. As such, it was focused on the developmental processes that preservice teachers experience as their conceptions of teaching and their teacher identities change throughout their teacher education program. Although the two developmental aspects have been importantly considered by teacher educators when setting goals for teacher education and have been popular topics to educational researchers, few studies have explicitly observed how conceptions of teaching and teacher identities are related to each other in preservice teachers’ professional development trajectories. In a longitudinal study that tracked eight preservice teachers for three semesters of their teacher preparation, naturalistic observations of student teaching and semi-structured interviews served as the primary data sources. Data analysis was inductive and interpretative, using the qualitative methods of grounded theory. All of the preservice teachers in the study experienced conceptual change in their conceptions of teaching toward the direction aligned with their teacher education program, though their developmental patterns varied in terms of nature, speed, and distinctiveness. In the process of conceptual development, preservice teachers’ attention shifted from a focus on self to a focus on students, which I called an outward journey. They also evolved their teacher identities throughout the program with increasing confidence in becoming a teacher every semester. The formation of their teacher identities began by recognizing self as a teacher as positioned by others and continued with self-cultivation as a teacher, a process I called an inward journey. Needing continuous validation and reflection, the two journeys were closely related, sharing some characteristics and mechanism of growth and reciprocally influencing each other. Through interpretation of the data, I concluded that these two journeys cannot be separated from each other but, instead, should be integrated into external and internal development of becoming a teacher. As lifelong learners, preservice teachers are beginning the continual journey of becoming a good teacher throughout their career. / text

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students, students of color, and students with disabilities are failing school and being pushed out at much higher rates that majority populations students while also experiencing high rates of bullying, harassment, and physical violence in school. This study explores efforts to reduce the violent experiences and academic disparities for these students through teacher practice at the classroom level. It examines public pedagogy and conflict pedagogy as curricular strategies in a preservice teacher education course over 5 years. The course aims to develop and support an advocate/activist teacher identity, a teacher identity that is not neutral and can challenge and disrupt the ideas and practices that have become normalized in our schools. This research draws on three theoretical frameworks to inform the design and analysis of this study on teacher identity: poststructuralism, feminist pragmatism, and queer theory. These theories provide a conceptual vocabulary for critically examining anti-oppressive teacher education curricula. Specifically, this work looks at the way public and conflict pedagogy can be used to achieve anti-oppressive curricular ends through the potential impact on preservice teacher identity.

Given the competing contexts of teacher education, it is important to uncover what teacher educator knowledge concerning curriculum design and development emerges in design, implementation, and instruction during the transition from in-person to online contexts. Yet, there is little research that uncovers teacher educator knowledge in curriculum making generally, and more specifically, how this knowledge is carried forward or changed as teacher educators create and enact online teaching. Because transitions are an important time to uncover tacit and embodied understanding, in this self-study of teacher education practice (S-STEP), I examined my own teacher educator knowledge during planning, teaching, and reflecting as I shifted to teaching online. Seven strands of teacher educator knowledge were represented in analytic narrative vignettes and identified as knowledge of content, fixed and fluid elements of course design, milieu, pedagogical intent, preservice teacher knowledge and belief, the value and fragility of relationships, and theory. Then I examined each of the strands separately as a way to discuss findings more holistically. By shifting the teaching context, I questioned and deepened my knowledge of preparing preservice teachers. Further, the analysis revealed how these seven strands of my teacher educator knowledge were interconnected, made stronger, and interacted differently during the stages of planning, teaching, and reflecting. Such intimate study of my own teacher educator knowledge revealed my obligations, responsibilities, and commitments to preservice teachers and the students they will teach. Studies that examine the shifts in teaching context have the potential to identify and highlight the complexities of teacher educator knowledge, thereby making a useful contribution to the research conversation in teacher education. By recognizing and naming their teacher educator knowledge, teacher educators can sharpen and improve their practice as they design courses, especially including improvements in online teacher education, participate in constructing programs, and defend their programs in accreditation processes.

The relationship between the mission of community colleges and the increasing teacher shortage has become more transparent as many community colleges have implemented teacher education programs to address community needs, the shortage of qualified teachers, and the lack of diversity among teachers. As the community college's teacher education role has increased, many community colleges have responded by adding associate of arts degrees and certificate programs specific to teacher education to tackle the shortage of teachers and the lack of diversity among teachers in the nation's classrooms. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of one community college's pre-service teacher education program in transferring minority students to a university teacher education program and the likelihood of the students graduating with both bachelor's degrees and teacher certification. This longitudinal ex post facto causal-comparative mixed methods case study involved tracking a cohort of minority students over a 6-year period. Data were gathered from existing teacher education program records for native and transfer students at one community college and two four-year institutions. Unstructured interviews were conducted with administrators over the community college's program. For data analysis, ?2 and Phi Coefficients were conducted to compare the minority students' university transfer and graduation rates to native university students' transfer and graduation rates. Results of the study demonstrated that the minority students were graduating at an observably higher rate than both the native to university students and their respective ethnic peers who began college at two-year colleges at the national level. This study's findings might help community college teacher education programs to increase enrollments of minority students and to address the needs of surrounding communities. The findings contributed to the relatively scarce literature regarding minority teacher preparation in community colleges. The study's findings might also be useful to community colleges looking toward or already implementing similar pre-service teacher education programs. Overall, the results indicated that pre-service teacher education programs at the community college level can be effective at producing transfer students who successfully graduate from four-year teacher education programs.

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My study examined the belief development of three preservice teachers as they learned to teach writing in a one-semester elementary writing methods course. I also sought to identify significant episodes that contributed to the preservice teachers’ belief development. Two questions guided my inquiry: How do preservice teachers’ beliefs about writing and the teaching of writing develop while enrolled in an elementary writing methods course? and What episodes do preservice teachers, who are enrolled in an elementary writing methods course, view as significant in helping them negotiate their beliefs about writing and writing instruction? I collected survey data, conducted a series of in-depth interviews, and completed 12 classroom observations during the data collection phase of my study. From those data sources, I generated descriptive statistics and followed constant comparative methods to analyze my transcripts and fieldnotes. Using data from two surveys administered on the first day the writing methods course met, I employed stratified purposeful sampling strategy in order to select three case study participants with varied orientations toward writing instruction: Skylar, Natasha, and Samantha. I developed three case study descriptions and conducted cross-case analysis in order to answer both of my research questions. Based upon data from the Writing Instruction Orientation Survey, from classroom observations, and from in-depth interviews, I considered belief development along a continuum from product-orientation to process-orientation for each case study participant at the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester. The belief development of all three case study participants moved toward a process-orientation of writing instruction by the end of the semester, which was the observed orientation of the instructor in the writing methods course. The three preservice teachers identified learning experiences that required the application of information from readings and class meetings as significant in their belief development. Those assignments included shared writing assignment and in-class writing time and creation of an original publishable piece of writing. One case study participant also identified small group activities conducted in class as significant. The case study participants varied in their application of author’s craft language that matched their emerging process-oriented beliefs. Skylar’s and Natasha’s beliefs about writing instruction evolved from an eclectic orientation at the beginning of the semester to a process-orientation at the end of the semester. They demonstrated a limited ability to apply author’s craft language to match their emerging beliefs. Samantha began the semester holding process-oriented beliefs about writing instruction and grew significantly in her application of author’s craft language that matched her beliefs. These three case study participants experienced varied growth in their ability to talk the talk of a process-oriented writing teacher. The experiences of these three preservice teachers suggest that preservice teachers acquire the ability to recognize teacher behaviors the match their beliefs about writing instruction before their ability to apply the language to accompany emerging beliefs develops. The acquisition of professional discourse to talk about emerging beliefs varied depending on the readiness level of the individual. Findings from my inquiry indicate that teacher educators should consider intentionally designing writing methods courses to include assignments and experiences that involve the application of presented information and developing understandings as a means to foster belief development. This type of opportunity might include field experiences directly related to course assignments, as was the case with the shared writing assignment in my study. Teacher educators might also create situations that allow preservice teachers to apply author’s craft language so that they grow in their ability to talk the talk of a writing teacher. The development of professional discourse is a marker of membership in any community of practice. As preservice teachers work to gain entry into the teaching profession, it should be expected that their ability to apply language of that community develop along a continuum.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of constructivist learning process on preservice teacher education students&amp / #65533 / performance, retention, and attitudes in Classroom Management Course. In this study, an experimental design and a case study design were used together. The sample (n = 144) were third year preservice teachers at the Foreign Languages Education program at Middle East Technical University, Turkey. The experimental group (n = 76) was subjected to social constructivist learning process, while the control group (n = 68) was subjected to traditional instruction for eleven weeks. Data were collected through qualitative and quantitative methods. Findings show that posttest scores were not statistically different between the experimental and the control groups. However, a significant difference was found in the retention scores in favor of the experimental group. The conceptual change the learners went through was evident in their metaphorical images which tend to change from a more controlling image to images that depict leadership, sensitivity to individual differences, and student learning. Descriptive findings indicate that retention was fostered through constructivist activities that mainly included reflective writing, critical thinking, and problem solving. Factors such as active learning, meaningful and enjoyable learning environment, and the attitudes of instructors had a positive impact on student learning. Nevertheless, the load of reflective diary writing and portfolio preparation tasks, and collaborative work could be overwhelming and discouraging and these impacted negatively on learners&amp / #65533 / attitudes towards the course.

Recent trends in immigration in Manitoba and across Canada mean increasing classroom cultural diversity in all levels of the education system. In response to these trends, faculties of Education have tried a variety of ways to better prepare preservice teachers for this increasing classroom cultural diversity. An opportunity provided for preservice teachers in many teacher preparation programs is the chance to participate in international student-teaching practicums. This qualitative case study research explored the potential influence of the Elmwood international student-teaching practicum located in South-east Asia. The results shed light on the influence that personal dispositions have in the overall experiences and perceptions of the practicum participants. The study showed that international student-teaching practicums provide a variety of potentially challenging and valuable experiences. The study concludes with the claim that critically oriented parallel programming and supervision is necessary in the attempt to ensure that these experiences result in the positive personal and professional identity development in those involved.

This thesis aims to take a step or two towards a theoretical model of where teacher education ‘stands’ as a social practice, a career, a discipline, and a profession. It does this through the specific lens of ‘professional identity’, a concept often referred to in the teaching and teacher education literature but one that is also often ill-defined and seldom made the empirical focus of the studies reported. Taking as its starting point a definition of professional identity as ‘the valued professional self’, the thesis recounts the findings of a phenomenological study of the professional self-image and identities of nine preservice teacher educators from six different institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand. The research involved a grounded analysis of the transcripts of some 39 extended interviews with the teacher educators, conducted over a five-year period. The period during which the thesis was written has been one of considerable educational change in New Zealand, and one little short of an upheaval in relation to the institutional structuring of teacher education nation-wide. During the period of the study colleges of education with a century and a half of history as independent, stand-alone and specialist institutions, have gone through a complex process of merging with their local universities, while neo-liberal reforms of all tertiary institutions have placed particular strains and constraints on the pedagogical structures and processes that are typically implemented in teacher education programmes. Being on the brink of a new era in teacher education has thus brought teacher educators’ identity - their place in the educational world and what it is that they and their field fundamentally ‘stand for’ - both into relief, and for some, into question. The teacher educators in the study followed a path into teacher education typical in New Zealand but perhaps increasingly untypical in many other countries - from practitioner to academic - and in one sense it is an account of how they severally and collectively have come to terms with their own identities as professionals during that journey and at a time of considerable institutional turmoil. But the research also attempts to get beyond their individual stories to address broader issues of how one might best ‘get at’ a professional identity in the first place, as a matter of interview analysis and method, whether or not there are some distinctive but common elements that might distinguish the professional identity of the particular group we call teacher educators, and if there are, then what those distinctive characteristics might be. The research studied the teacher educators’ professional identities through several related lenses or perspectives that taken together might be seen as constituting or covering the key facets of the phenomenon we call a professional identity. It interrogates their storied accounts of how and why they became teacher educators: their professional motivations, goals and career histories. It also examines through a snapshot in time what they saw as the occupational scope of their jobs and the various roles they undertook, and the relative emphasis or value priority given by individuals to each job or role. Through a third lens, it describes and theorises the particular knowledge base(s), pedagogies and professional expertise they felt they needed to do the job effectively, and what they saw as teacher educators’ distinctive ‘expertise’. Using metaphor analysis, it also explores the emotionalities associated with the various personae they found themselves ‘being’ as teacher educators - the highs and things that gave them ‘heart’, along with the tensions, incongruities and dilemmas associated with ‘being’ teacher educators. A final perspective explores their sense of collective identity as a professional community and the various other professional groups with whom they felt more, or less, collective affinity. The thesis concludes by proposing a conceptual model of teacher educators’ professional identity as an identity that overlaps with that of teachers in schools as well as with that of academics in other fields, but which is nevertheless distinguishable from both these. In particular, it is simultaneously more multifaceted in scope than the former and more performative in nature than the latter. The study suggests that teacher educators’ professional identity may be particularly characterised by the comprehensiveness of its specialist expertise, by a strong sense of ethical commitment and other-centredness, by a conception of teacher education as the embodied enactment of its own knowledge-base and expertise, and, ultimately, by an abiding ambivalence about teacher educators’ and teacher education’s place in the world - the professional discomfort that characterises working across ‘the spaces in between’.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are common in schools worldwide in the 21st century, in both developed and developing countries. A number of initiatives have been made in the development of ICT related training in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes. These initiatives aim to develop future teachers’ ability to teach and deliver the school curriculum, including using ICT in the classroom. Sufficient field experience is essential since the process of undergoing such placements would prepare them in creating new ideas and implementing strategic ways as to how they can effectively incorporate the use of ICT in their lesson plan, class management, and in teaching. The key research question in this study is “Do pre-service teachers in a New Zealand and a Malaysian ITE programme use their field experience to develop their potential to integrate ICT in schools and, what are the similarities and differences between these case studies?” Effective use of ICT in teaching and learning requires the teacher to understand how ICT weaves with pedagogy and content. The Technological, Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) theoretical framework introduced by Mishra and Koehler (2006) clarifies the need to understand and develop TPACK to inform integration of ICT in teaching. This research provides two case studies of ICT in ITE in the Asia Pacific region, one in a developed country, New Zealand, and the other in a developing country, namely Malaysia. Both case studies are of ICT in an ITE programme with a particular focus on field experience in secondary schools, within which there are embedded cases of ITE students. This study illustrates how pre-service teachers’ experience and development of ICT knowledge and skill and their understanding of TPACK can support an increase in their teaching competencies. This research provides evidence that field experience is important to support pre-service teachers to develop their teaching competencies with ICT and understanding of TPACK in ways that are transferable into their own practice. This study has also contributed to increased reliability and validity of TPACK instrumentation. The comparative findings of the New Zealand and Malaysian case studies indicate the importance of a range of contextual factors, which suggest that the Initial Teacher Education programme, school curriculum and ICT availability as well as student maturity contribute to the development of TPACK.